“Praise God”: What does Laudate Deum mean for us?

On the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi this year, Pope Francis released an apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum (‘Praise God’), as a follow-up to Laudato Si’. Laudate Deum echoes its predecessor’s call for environmental justice and concerted global action. Pope Francis focuses heavily on the need for environmental and social justice - particularly in response to climate change - in line with Caritas’ mission in Aotearoa. We strongly encourage everyone to read the full document; in this article we will highlight a couple of key paragraphs relevant to Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand’s work.

Standing firm against seabed mining (Paragraph 22)

Without a doubt, the natural resources required by technology, such as lithium, silicon and so many others, are not unlimited, yet the greater problem is the ideology underlying an obsession: to increase human power beyond anything imaginable, before which nonhuman reality is a mere resource at its disposal. Everything that exists ceases to be a gift for which we should be thankful, esteem and cherish, and instead becomes a slave, prey to any whim of the human mind and its capacities.

This paragraph comes from a poignant section where Pope Francis discusses the ‘technocratic paradigm’ that growing economic and technological power in the hands of the few is the way to overcome climate issues. Pope Francis underscores the dangers of this approach, which Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand has been fighting against for years in our efforts to ban seabed mining. Paragraph 22 of Laudate Deum exposes the shallowness of the arguments made by mining companies, who claim seabed mining is necessary to acquire rare earth metals for green technologies. Even if this were true (you can read our submission this year explaining why this is not the case), it would only be a temporary solution, because these metals exist in finite quantities.

This reminds us of the responsibility of Stewardship – Kaitiakitanga over the natural resources God has gifted us. Because we have a finite quantity of these resources, we must share and use equitably what we have, rather than seeking to extract and exploit more of them for corporate profit.

This is why Pope Francis, and Caritas, calls for a societal shift away from consumerism and endless commodification and profit growth, towards a model where sustainable practices are adopted for the good of all (an example of this being the circular economy model). This aligns with scriptures describing the early Church, where “no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common” (Acts 4:32).

A new mode of international cooperation (Paragraph 38)

In the medium-term, globalization favours spontaneous cultural interchanges, greater mutual knowledge and processes of integration of peoples, which end up provoking a multilateralism “from below” and not simply one determined by the elites of power. The demands that rise up from below throughout the world, where activists from very different countries help and support one another, can end up pressuring the sources of power. It is to be hoped that this will happen with respect to the climate crisis. For this reason, I reiterate that “unless citizens control political power – national, regional and municipal – it will not be possible to control damage to the environment”.

Much of the attention on multilateral environmental action focusses on high-profile global conferences, such as COP negotiations. Pope Francis does discuss COP at length, and Caritas sees the negotiation as a chance to be a voice for the Pacific region which is impacted by climate change. However, this paragraph resonates with us by underscoring the role organisations such as Caritas play in building global action from the grassroots up.

The work we do through programmes such as He Oranga Taurikura builds connections between communities at the local level, empowering communities to advocate for environmental justice and address the issues they face locally. An example of this is our partnership with SEEP in Fiji, who have been supporting the locals of Namosi in their fight to protect their homes from mining. This aligns with the Catholic social teaching principle of Subsidiarity – Mana Whakahaere, which teaches that decisions should be led by those they affect, rather than dictated by higher authorities. By continuing to build connections with local communities, indigenous peoples, and civil society, Caritas aims to strengthen the grassroots multilateralism that Pope Francis discusses.